Ege Yildirim is an urban planner specializing in heritage conservation and management, with over 20 years of experience working in Turkey and internationally. She was a Fulbright Scholar at Pratt Institute- New York and a Kaplan Fellow for Archaeological Heritage Management at Koç University. She has served as Heritage Site Manager of the Historic Guild Town of Mudurnu since 2015, and as Key Expert for Cultural Heritage in the EU-Turkey Anatolian Archaeology and Cultural Heritage Institute project (January-May 2019). She is currently the ICOMOS Focal Point for the SDGs, board member of ICOMOS Turkey and of Europa Nostra Turkey.
Ilaria Rosetti is a researcher PhD candidate and a project developer in the heritage management field. She obtained her Master degree on Arts & Heritage: Policy, Management and Education at the Maastricht University. Her experience includes projects for public and private institutions, within fields of cultural policy, sustainable tourism, community engagement and strategies for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). She’s the emerging professional representative of the ICOMOS SDGs Task Force and active member of ICOMOS Nederland. As member of the academic staff of the Antwerp University, she works towards the implementation of the UNESCO Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape.
Patricia M. O’Donnell, preservation landscape architect and urban planner, founded Heritage Landscapes LLC in 1987. This professional firm has completed a diverse group of 500+ commissions that have received 87 awards to foster preservation and enable economic, environmental and societal sustainability for and places of value, particularly cultural landscapes. Her works at Heritage Landscapes, LLC apply planning and implementation expertise to the preservation and stewardship of places of regional, national and global importance. Currently serving as President of the ICOMOS IFLA International Scientific Committee on Cultural Landscapes, she fosters global collaboration to enhance cultural landscape preservation.This Knowledge Café aims to provide a discussion platform to contribute to the drafting of a new ICOMOS SDGs Policy Guidance, from the perspective of rural heritage, landscapes and rural-urban linkages. While 50%-plus of global populations are urban dwellers, we tend to forget that the other half dwell in rural places. One of the 7 Priority Actions of the ICOMOS SDGs Working Group in 2018 is the preparation of a consolidated policy statement, as an effective tool for advocacy and communication to wider society and the development world. Based on the need to boost the role of cultural heritage in sustainable development processes, this would be a robust Policy Guidance document, serving to improve the recognition of the role of cultural heritage protection, particularly as defined by SDG 11.4 and the New Urban Agenda. The ICOMOS SDGs Working Group aims to launch this document at the 10th World Urban Forum in 2020 and at the High-Level Political Forum in 2021. The new Policy Guidance aims to emphasize “heritage as a resource, a strategic opportunity”, using the framework of the 3 dimensions of sustainability, economic, social, environmental, and propose adding the 4th dimension of ‘culture’ through an appropriate approach. The document should be based on solid scientific expertise sourced from ICOMOS membership. The Symposium on Rural Heritage: Landscapes and Beyond is a prime opportunity to involve some of this membership, ensuring a diverse and inclusive range of expertise in heritage informs the Policy Guidance. Rural heritage and landscapes, including rural-urban linkages, have great relevance for the intersection of cultural heritage and sustainable development, touching on many SDGs and issues raised in the New Urban Agenda, not to mention the Historic Urban Landscape Recommendation. To cite some examples of this inter-connectedness, the “inter-related categories of continuity and change” addressed during the Symposium, provide the following links: - under ‘Rural Culture’ to SDG 11.4 (change management for tangible rural heritage), SDG 1.5, 2.4, 11.5, 11.b, 13.1 (risk of loss of intangible rural traditions/ practices), SDG 8.9, SDG 12.b (rural cultural tourism), SDG 16.7, 16.a, 17.9, 17.15, 17.17 (identity of people and places); - under ‘Rural economics’ to SDG 1 (poverty eradication), SDG2 (food security), SDG3 (rural agricultural heritage), SDG 8 (improvement of markets and opportunities for rural traditional tools, techniques and rural heritage tourism), SDG 8 (infrastructure, services to small enterprises), SDG 11 (spatial form, territorial policies); - under ‘Rural Environment’ to SDG 6 (water), 13 and 15 (desertification, climate-induced severe weather events, biodiversity, forest management); and - under ‘Rural Society’ to SDG 1 (poverty alleviation) SDG 2 (agriculture), SDG 3.8, 3.c (health services), SDG 16, 17 (bottom-up governance). - Some case studies from ‘Moroccan Rural Heritage’ can be proposed during the session from participants who may have relevant knowledge, to demonstrate these links. The Knowledge Café will feature two speakers, Ege Yildirim and Patricia O’Donnell, giving the conceptual framework of the session, followed by Ilaria Rosetti presenting the method of open discussion, whereby breakout groups (e.g. 3-4 groups of 5-6) can discuss the links of rural heritage issues to the various 17 Goals and Targets under them, concluding with short reporting from each group, to be compiled and disseminated later by the conveners
